News from BrazilA termite infestation led to the discovery of a skeleton and an accidentally mummified body behind a wall in the Catholic Monastery of Light in São Paulo, Brazil. According to local reports, exterminators found two desiccated bodies--thought to be nuns of the Order of the Conceptionist Sisters--buried at different times between 1774 and 1822.

March 1968: Archaeologist Claudio Moccheggioni examines fragments of painted plaster in the recently discovered House of Augustus on the Palatine Hill in Rome. The house dates to about 30 B.C. and is thought to have been the emperor's home in the early years of his rule.

March 2008: For the first time in 40 years, visitors can enter the House of Augustus. Hundreds of thousands of fragments of painted plaster have been painstakingly restored to re-create extraordinary colored frescoes--some of the finest in the Roman world--decorating a dining room, reception hall, bedroom, and small study with theatrical and garden scenes.